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August 12, 2004
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August 12, 2004 |
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Clauser finds another way to build affordable homes
Last week Suzanne Clauser was beaming as she stood in front of the white two-story frame house still under construction at 409 Dayton Street. The lot, which she originally purchased for herself, and the house she designed to suit her tastes will be put on the market this fall for a family making a moderate income in Yellow Springs. She has taken responsibility for one small corner of the affordable housing issue and is having a ball doing it her way. A former board member of Yellow Springs Home, Inc., a community land trust, Clauser has supported the establishment of affordable housing in Yellow Springs for several decades. Local affordable housing organizations have done a lot for families with lower than median incomes, she said. But when she tried to extend housing options to a broader income range, she said she found that both constraints of government funding and lack of consensus on a public housing plan made it difficult to help those making median income and slightly higher. “It was heartbreaking, the debate about housing,” she said. “So I decided just to do it on my own and have fun with it.” Clauser visits the house she designed nearly every day, she said, and talks to the local construction team she chose to do the work. Richard Zopf helped her to situate the structure catawampus to the street and nestle it between a budding crab apple, a blue spruce and two old weeping willows in the backyard. Designer Kathy Moulton created the blueprints, which include a first-floor picture window that looks onto the back deck and adds light to the vaulted ceiling in the kitchen and living room area. The plans also include what Clauser called a “bonus” room or open room at the top of the stairs. Contractor Mike Alexander oversees the construction, and Antioch graduate Carl Bryan has done all the electrical work. The materials are the only thing that came from out of town because there is no longer a local lumber yard, Clauser said. “Just as I had hoped would happen, all these people have been coming up with ideas that are much better than mine,” she said of her team. Clauser plans to sell the new home with the lot at cost, which she covered through a low-interest loan on her own home. Though the price of the 1,470-square-foot three-bedroom house has not been determined because it is still unfinished, she said she anticipates selling it to an applicant with an income of 110 to 120 percent of the Greene County median income, perhaps $80,000 or slightly higher. Clauser’s plans differ from the models used by Home, Inc. and Starfish, which target families making 80 percent of the median income or lower. And unlike Home, Inc., which does not sell the land with the house, Clauser’s home includes the land, raising the total cost of the home. She plans to control the resale value for a period of 10 years and envisions local teachers, faculty, police officers and Village employees as the type of families that would make a perfect match for the house. “What Starfish and Home, Inc. are doing is wonderful, but I think slightly higher income people are also having trouble buying homes here,” Clauser said. “I’m trying to give people a choice.” Since construction began in May, she said, many people have thanked Clauser for her community effort. But she insists she did it mostly for herself. For several years Clauser has tried to move out of her much-adored but oversized octagonal house on Whiteman Street by building a smaller home in town. She purchased the cottage at the corner of Dayton and Stafford and its neighboring lot two years ago, intending to remodel it for herself. She ended up selling the house and tried to build a new home for herself on the empty lot next door. This time the sale of her house will help realize a longtime effort she has made to help diversify housing in the village. Clauser hopes that the fun she has had watching her creation come to life over the summer will serve as a model for other Yellow Springers who can afford to front extra capital to build housing on other vacant lots. The financier would need to be able to have a lump sum of money tied up interest-free for several months, after which everything that was put in could be returned. Though Clauser would like to repeat the process herself, the challenge of finding available land in the village at an affordable price could be prohibitive, she said. Land in Miami Township may be less expensive, but the cost of installing new infrastructure would make development more expensive, she said. “I was able to do this because I got the land rather inexpensively,” she said. “I would love to do this again, but I don’t know if I can get the land at a price that would allow me to do it.” Home, Inc. has been looking for three years for a plot of land to purchase and develop but has had trouble finding people who want to sell or are able to sell at a reasonable price, the organization’s director, Marianne MacQueen, said. “The lack of property that is economically viable to build on is the critical issue,” she said. The lack of larger pieces of available property makes Clauser’s solution more necessary, Bryan said. “I’m glad to work on this project. It’s great what Sue’s doing,” he said. “People are such profiteers, and housing is only going to get more expensive.” Clauser had hoped to have the house completed and on the market before the school year started, and though the target date has been extended into October, she has received inquiries from several people from out of town. But she is holding out for someone who works in town and, she said, should have every opportunity to live here and be involved in the community they contribute to every day. |
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